1. Field of The Invention
The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus for the separation and recovery of volatile solvents from water vapor-containing exhaust air emitted from dry-cleaning machines, metal degreasing installations, installations for the cleaning of electronic conductor plates, solvent baths and similar installations, wherein the exhaust air is led through regeneratable molecular sieve packings and then discharged into the atmosphere.
2. The Prior Art
A method and apparatus for the recovery of volatile solvents from water vapor-containing exhaust air is known. However, it has been found in practice that the recovery of the solvents is difficult or at least expensive, because the water vapor is not adequately separated from the solvent vapors. As such, the obtained solvent condensate must be further treated to remove the water contained therein.
It is thus an object of the present invention to improve on the known method and apparatus for recovering solvent vapors from exhaust air containing water vapor and solvent vapors, i.e., to provide a method and apparatus which enables an effective and economical separation of the water vapor and the solvent vapors from the exhaust air, such that the recovered solvent is water-free.